Monday, October 27, 2008

Two Things

Thing One:
Trevor and I are cracking down on our budget. This is such a challenge for us and has been for the entirety of our marriage. Now with the current state of our economy it's easier to say "I'm on a budget" without feeling cheap or stingy. It allows us to stop that "keeping up the jones" mentality. So, one major thing we have changed is making a meal plan and only grocery shopping once a week. Real Simple's Nov. 2008 issue helped me this week with their "Love Your Leftovers" & "Five Easy Dinners" articles. The first recipe I tried was I the Creamy Mashed Potato & Leek Soup . The recipe is meant to use your leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving....so I had to make a batch first. I just used some baby potatoes, skin on, half a stick of salted butter, & a head of oven roasted garlic. Also, I substituted half of the low sodium chicken broth with regular. Low sodium broth is the devil. I also added a touch of Old Bay seasoning, white pepper, & black pepper to taste. This soup was easy to make and I am telling you that when you eat it you'll feel like you're eating potatoes and lots of creamy fat goodness. But in reality the only creamy fat is the butter you use to make the mashed potatoes. I served it with a small salad of organic greens with homemade balsamic vinaigrette and a slice of hearty bread. HELLA!

Thing Two:
We are entering the cold weather season in the Midwest. This is distressing to me. Not because I don't like the weather....because I LOVE the cold, but because there is a large number of whiney Midwesterner's who BTICH the entire winter season about the temperature. Also it seems that the topic of conversation ANYWHERE you go is the cold. How cold is it outside? How much ice and/or snow is on the ground? What are the roads like? What is the temperature? What is the windchill?

It is cold out. The roads are probably crap. It will be this way for many more months. Get over it. It's the Midwest...either take the winters as they are or leave. No amount of your bellyaching will change it.
Thank you. I just had to get that of my chest.

1 comment:

Kate said...

I can relate to this post on almost every account: cracking down on the budget, grocery shopping once a week, liking the winter, hating the complaining. Oh yeah, and the most important - I'm craving mashed potatoes today!! This soup looks good, I'm going to have to try it out.